A Pumpkin Patch Stakeout Turned Sweet
by 1970heaven
Summary: The children of Mystery Inc. are about to solve a phantom jewel thief mystery, and have a few smiles on the side. One-shot, fluff, set near the end of the mystery and after it's solved. Thus is more about the characters than the mystery. Gosh, how many times can I say "mystery"? Also there's a bit of ship tease.


**Hi guys! Sorry I haven't been uploading any stories. I've been kind of busy. In the spirit of Halloween, I decided to write this story. As you understand from the title and summary, a couple of kids are sitting in a pumpkin patch and waiting, only it's not for the Great Pumpkin. Enjoy!**

**...**

The crisp autumn air moved into a chilling breeze, causing Vincent Rogers to shiver, pulling the orange blanket tighter around him.

"Hey Vince, your teeth are chattering," said his stakeout partner.

Vincent turned to look at Frieda, seeing her cerulean eyes reflect the moonlight. "S-sorry." he replied, adjusting his glasses.

"It's okay, just keep it under control. We can't be making too much noise, otherwise the Phantom will come before we're ready."

Vincent smiled, Frieda was just like her dad, always doing anything she could to make sure her plans worked.

This time the plan was for Shelby and Skippy to lure the Phantom to the pumpkin patch, where he would fall in a small ditch they had dug and covered with leaves. Then Desmond would lasso him, and Vincent and Frieda would throw a huge net on him, and Voila! They had their culprit!

Yep, Frieda was definitely a Jones alright.

"What are you grinning about?" Frieda teased, causing Vincent to blush.

"Oh, well..." he could never open up to the older girl about what he really thought of her, "I was just... thinking."

Frieda chuckled, "I was just thinking about how maybe if we sat here long enough, we might see the Great Pumpkin or something."

Vincent stifled a laugh, "Yeah, I was gonna say that this feels kind of like that Charlie Brown special."

"Yeah, but instead of waiting for a pumpkin, we're waiting for a crook in a ghost costume."

"What's your favorite part of it?"

"The movie?"

"Yeah."

Frieda paused and thought, "I think it might be when Charlie Brown and Linus are talking about their failed Halloween, and Charlie Brown accidentally offends him by implying that what he was doing was 'stupid.'"

Vincent cracked a smile, "''Stupid'? Whaddya mean 'stupid'?'"

"Yeah, that was hilarious."

"Not as funny as when Sally yelled at Linus."

"'You owe me restitution!'"

They both giggled. So much for not making too much noise.

Their laughter was cut short when they heard the screaming of Vincent's sister and the late Scooby Doo's daughter.

The lanky brunette and great Dane zoomed toward them and lept over the ditch. The Phantom ran after them, stepping into the hole and crashing to his knees.

"Now!" Frieda shouted.

A red-haired boy stepped out of the shadows with a lasso in his hands and threw the looped end of the rope on the Phantom before he could escape.

Vincent and Frieda tossed the large net and it landed perfectly on the glowing masked fiend, trapping him.

"We got him!" Frieda cried.

Unmasking him wasn't hard, but Vincent was shocked when he learned that the Phantom wasn't the one stealing the gems, but was actually trying to scare off the thieves, or thief as it turned out. It was pretty funny when the real culprit came strolling by with the jewels in his pocket, which Skippy had sniffed fiercely before rippnig it open, causing it to rain out the colorful gems.

...

"We're, like, so proud of you kids for solving this mystery!" Shaggy exclaimed as they were riding home in the Mystery Machine.

"Thanks, Dad." Vincent replied, "It wasn't easy, but we managed."

"Yeah, sure," scoffed Desmond, "I bet it was so difficult you found it funny!"

Frieda looked at her younger brother, "What are you talking about?"

Desmond pointed at her and Vincent, "I heard these two dorks laughing while we were waiting in the pumpkin patch! What were you two laughing about?"

"You sly little tattletale- We were just talking, okay?"

"Then how come your faces are red?" Daphne asked.

"Um, well, Mom, you see-"

"If you must know, we were joking about the Great Pumpkin." Vincent cut in.

Velma burst into giggles, "Seriously? You were talking about that during a stakeout?"

Frieda nodded, "We may have been talking about the Charlie Brown special and got distracted. I mean, we were waiting in a pumpkin patch after all!"

"Aw man," exclaimed Shaggy, "you know, my favorite part of that movie would have to be when Snoopy dressed up as the WW1 Flying Ace, and pretended to chase after the Red Baron."

"Whom you thought was a dog!" Velma replied.

"Really, Mom? He thought that?" Shelby asked.

"Yep," Fred replied, "he said, and here I must quote, 'I thought the Red Baron was a beagle!' To which Daphne responded, 'That was Snoopy, you dummy!'"

Everyone but Shaggy and Daphne laughed at Fred's lousy impressions of them.

"Like, first of all, Freddy, I do not sound like that, second of all, like, Daphne doesn't sound like that, and, like, third of all, I cannot be the only one who thought the Red Baron was, like, a dog instead of an actual person!"

"I, like, thought that too, Dad." Shelby responded, then looked at her brother, "Oh, look, it looks like my little brother is, like, falling asleep in his sweet baboo's arms."

Frieda's face turned deep crimson, "Hey, he's not- I'm not his- Ugh! Shut up, Shel!"

Fred looked at the boy, who had his head rested against Frieda's chest, then gave Shaggy a suspicious look.

"Like, what? Why are you, like, looking at me like that?"

Skippy piped up, "Vincent and Frieda sitting in a tree!"

Desmond and Shelby joined in, "K-I-S-S-I-N-"

"Oh yeah? What about you and Desmond, huh? Why are you two holding hands?"

It was now their turn to blush, Shelby quickly pulled her hand away, "Like, uh, my hand was cold."

"Riiiiiiight."

Suddenly, Vincent's eyes popped open, "I've got it! The harvest moon!"

"Holy- I thought you were sleeping, Vince!" Frieda exclaimed.

"Nah, I was just thinking, though everything else did sound far away, and I did feel pretty cozy- Yeah I might have started to doze off."

This earned a few giggles from their siblings, and earned Shaggy another death glare from Fred.

"Like, what? Why do you keep giving me those looks?"

"Nevermind, Shaggy," said Velma, then turned to her son, "what's this about a harvest moon, Vince?"

"You know how on Halloween, the moon looks big and orange like a pumpkin? I think that's what Linus thinks the Great Pumpkin is, and the reason he never saw it was because it was behind him."

"But, like, wouldn't he have seen the moon anyway?" Shelby asked, "I mean, he, like, thought Snoopy was the Great Pumpkin, so it doesn't make sense that he would think the moon was the Great Pumpkin before he saw Snoopy."

Vincent shrugged, "It was just a simple hypothesis, I'm probably wrong."

"It's okay," Frieda said, patting him on the shoulder, "we love you anyway."

"Oh my- will you, like, stop looking at me like that, Fred!?" Shaggy cried, seeing Fred give him another stink eye.

"We're home!" Velma exclaimed, more to break up the building tension than anything.

As they all climbed out of the van and went into the house, Frieda stood at the foot of the Jones driveway, staring at the full moon.

She suddenly felt a pair of hands wrap a blanket around her shoulders. She turned to look into the brown eyes of her bespectacled friend.

"Your teeth were chattering," he told her.

She smiled, pulling the orange blanket around her before opening it back up, "We can share."

Vincent moved closer to her and wrapped his arms around her waist, pulling closer as she wrapped the blanket around them both

"Beautiful moon out tonight," she said as a gentle breeze moved through her golden hair.

"Yeah, but not as beautiful as you."

She chuckled, "Be glad Dad didn't hear that."

Vincent smiled, resting his head against her chest as she rested her head on his.

Not a word was spoken. There was no need. They both understood from the firm but gentle grip they had on each other's hands.

"Will you lovebirds just get in the house? We're watching Charlie Brown!" Velma called.

They looked at each other and rolled their eyes, thinking the exact same thing.

_She owes us restitution! _

_..._

**So, what do you think? Given my previous stories were pretty dark, I thought I'd even it out with some lighthearted fluff. Please don't flame, otherwise the Great Pumpkin won't visit you. Oh, and also I'll get angry, and take my word for it:**

**You wouldn't like me when I'm angry.**


End file.
